Word of the Day · Thursday, January 15, 2026
/ˈbɪlbəʊ/noun
A device for punishment. See bilboes.
BILBO is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (I, O) and 3 consonants (B, L, B). It repeats 1 letter, which is a classic trap — guessers who assume five distinct letters get stuck.
It leans on high-frequency letters (I, O), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.
Across the 2,412 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, O appears in 29% of answers (the 4th most common letter), I appears in 28% of answers (the 6th most common letter), L appears in 25% of answers (the 8th most common letter). 12 other answers share the opening “BI-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.
Difficulty: 2/5 — approachable, because the repeated letter hides one position.
Words like BILBO are exactly what the daily puzzles throw at you. Warm up in Practice, race the clock in the Daily Challenge, or study the best starting words before your next run. New to the multi-board modes? The mode guides cover all nine.
Definitions adapted from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA). Letter statistics, difficulty ratings, and near-miss analysis are original Wordocious research computed from our curated answer list.